Description

THIS MOD CAN ENHANCE YOUR FRAMERATE OUTDOORS, while making your grass denser, taller and more wildly overgrown!It has done a reverse effect of what other grass mods has done in the past!

(Please READ the full description first before installing this mod for instructions)

Grass on Steroids is a personal mod that I would like to share with the rest of the community. I love playing hunting-themed gameplay and I was looking for the perfect grass mod that can make hunting more challenging and scary. I found a lot of mods that alter the density of grasses but none of them actually make the grasses taller and more spread out unevenly (most other grass density mods make grasses look like synthetic wheat fields which I don't like). Also, all of them can give you a massive FPS hit which breaks playability and immersion at high density settings. I created this mod with the aim of upgrading the role of grasses from mere aesthetics to become a part of gameplay immersion by making grassy terrains more surprising and challenging in combat. The result was a mod that is guaranteed to make grassy areas look beautifully wild and ruggedly challenging, which in my opinion is more realistic for a wild Skyrim environment. And best of all - it has minimal FPS hit and can even enhance the framerate.

Finally, a grass density enhancer mod that can boost your FPS instead of slowing you down - it makes grasses denser, taller and more realistic by unevenly distributing them. Now you can Create challenging grasslands for enhanced combat experience or simply make your game prettier (or have both) - all without worrying about FPS lag!1. GRASS DENSITY INCREASED DYNAMICALLY - densities are individually set to the maximum amount applicable to each individual grass type (unlike other mods that just puts everything at 100% or 300%? density). Most densities are set above 100% with increments, so you'll get real thicker grasses.2. GRASS HEIGHT INCREASED - makes grasses taller, with uneven height distribution for a wild-mix look. This was carefully adjusted to suit each individual grass-type. "Regular Edition" makes grass tall, "Goldilocks Edition" makes grass slightly taller and "Natural Edition" has no height increase.3. GRASS ARE SPREAD-OUT UNEVENLY - This is something that no other grass mod has provided so far (mods I'm familiar with). This avoids the synthetic, super-smooth "wheat-field look", that is so ugly and unrealistic.4. WIND MOVEMENT EFFECTS - Subtle wind movement effects were enhanced on some grasses for added immersion. This effect will be particularly noticeable with the beach grass in the north, tundra grass near Whiterun, the underwater kelp grass, etc.5. MINIMAL FPS Hit - it is recommended to be used at iMinGrassSize=75 (not 20 or 30) or even higher (up to 128). The reason why other grass mods in the past has been slowing down your PC is because they recommend you to use 20 or 40. This mod will give you dense grass all the way up to 128 setting.6. It can BOOST your FPS outdoors without sacrificing grass amount and density! (read on settings below on how you can do this!)

=======================================================================What it does NOT do:=======================================================================

- This does not change or overwrite any meshes or textures so it is perfectly compatible with Skyrim Flora Overhaul and Lush Grasses series mods- Grass on Steroids does not contain any cell or worldspace edits so it will not cause CTDs.- Grass on Steroids does not contain any scripts, so you can try it and remove it risk-free - it will not affect your saved games.

Requires Skyrim update version 1.8.151 or higher. Not tested on lower versions of Skyrim (may not work).There are 3 Editions with two variants of each (Vanilla and SFO) - Six (6) options in total:1. Regular Edition - Tall Grass (Version 1.3a Vanilla and Version 1.3b SFO)2. Goldilocks Edition - Not too tall and not to short - medium height grass (Version 1.3c Vanilla and version 1.3d SFO) 3. Natural Edition - No height increase on most grass - Short Grass (Version 2.0a Vanilla and 2.0b SFO)

Vanilla Variants - Requires no other mod or DLC, only vanilla grasses are affected. It will work on Skyrim with or without DLCs.SFO Variants - Requires Skyrim Flora Overhaul by Vurt. Please install SFO first before trying them out. I highly recommend using SFO variants as it will really make a big difference on your skyrim world :-)

*Optimal SettingsSet your grass density to 75 (or higher) in your skyrim.ini file or insert the below line:[Grass]iMinGrassSize=75If you want thicker grass, you can set this at a lower number (around 40) but at the expense of FPS lag. If you want faster performance set it to 100.All screenshots were taken using the 75 setting.At iMinGrassSize=75 setting, it should work on most computers with MINIMAL FPS hit (Framerate differences will vary depending on your machine - you can tweak this setting until you find the "sweet spot" for your rig).

*BOOST your FRAMERATE:Can you believe that a grass mod can actually increase your framerate outdoors?Set your iMinGrassSize above 100 (around 120-128) to get enhanced framerate outdoors, and still you'll get better grass density than vanilla at 40 setting! At this setting, there will no longer be any grass at all if you don't use this mod. I got a 5-10FPS boost on my rig, and there's still plenty of grass!***FOR COMPARISON REFERENCE: The density of Grass on Steroids at iMinGrassSize=85 is roughly similar to vanilla (or vanilla+SFO) at iMinGrassSize=18 setting. This is how the framerate advantage should be compared.***Framerate boost will be more noticeable on weaker systems

*Maximize your grass quality:This mod was created and tested on a beefy machine (i7-3770k, GTX680-4gb, 32gbram), so I would recommend boosting its density settings (to 20 or 40) only to high-end pc users. At these super-dense settings, Grass on Steroids will give you the densest possible grass you can get within Skyrim's game engine limits as compared to any other grass mods. I wouldn't recommend setting it below 40 as it gets too dense that a lot of the smaller grass textures end up getting covered and you won't get the natural uneven distribution that this mod was intended to do.

*Troubleshooting:If you can't see any difference in your grass density, make sure you have the below line in your skyrimprefs.ini under Grass section:[Grass]b30GrassVS=0bAllowLoadGrass=0bAllowCreateGrass=1

***DISCLAIMER: Grass on Steroids is a "grass density modifier" - meaning you will benefit from its performance enhancement only if you want to have improved grass density. For those who don't want to have improved grass density or to have any grass at all then this mod will not give any performance benefit.

Highly recommended to be used with SFO by vurt and Lush Trees and Grass by opticshooter.Also, if you want even more grass and more variety I highly recommend to use it in conjunction with my other mod Skyrim Grassification Project. Grass on Steroids is compatible with all mods except those that affect grass density and distribution. For your load order, Grass on Steroids has to go after Skyrim Flora Overhaul. It also has to go after any other mod that you think may affect grasses. Just to be sure put Grass on Steriods in the lowest load order possible.

Versions 2.0a and 2.0b released "Natural Edition" with no height increase_____Version 1.3 (a,b,c,d) is now out with some minor tweaks based on user feedback._____- Version 1.2 Goldilocks Edition - Not too tall and not too short - you'll still get the same density and "wild" look as original version and of course, the framerate boosting effect. I included both Vanilla and SFO in one archive, so choose only 1 file- Version 1.0a for vanilla grasses. No requirements and will affect only vanilla grasses- Version 1.1a SFO Edition - requires the mod Skyrim Flora Overhaul by Vurt. (Recommended)

Shown above are comparisons of some of the more popular Grass mods out there. Trust me, I tried them all, as I mentioned earlier I was looking for the perfect grass mod--that's the very reason this mod was created--with passion. As you can notice, the other mods are pretty much patchy - this is because iMinGrassSize is set at 75 which Grass on Steroids is optimised for (the higher this number goes, the more performance you can get). If you want the same level of "thickness" on the other mods, you have to set your iMinGrassSize to a lower number (around 30) which will result in greater FPS lag and the ugly "synthetic wheatfield look". Grass on Steroids is at the moment the thickest, most realistic and ironically also the most FPS-friendly of all grass mods out there.

* **For better grass textures and meshes:- Skyrim Flora Overhaul by Vurtnote: put Grass On Steroids below SFO in load order- Lush trees and grass by Opticshooter- Skyrim Grassification Project - Turn Skyrim into a big landscaped garden. I created it especially to maximize the capability of "Grass on Steroids".*** (Optional) For even TALLER grasses, try combining "Grass on Steroids" with the meshes from "More lush and re-sized plants and grasses ML-RPG" by Hritik - this is extreme and will turn any grass patch into a mini forest! haha this is fun. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/16101 (This will overwrite your meshes so make a backup first!)

=======================================================================Thank you and Enjoy Skyrim!=======================================================================

CHECK OUT MY OTHER MODS:

Credits:Skyrim Flora Overhaul mod is created by vurt.Grass on Steriods was inspired from "Dense Grass" by- Chewiemuse. Credits to the author for the original idea.